• Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma
• Deep learning
• Hepatocellular carcinoma
• Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
• Ultrasound

• Humans
• Bile Duct Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging
• Bile Duct Neoplasms/pathology
• Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic/diagnostic imaging
• Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic/pathology
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/diagnostic imaging
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/pathology
• Cholangiocarcinoma/diagnostic imaging
• Cholangiocarcinoma/pathology
• Contrast Media
• Deep Learning
• Liver Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging
• Liver Neoplasms/pathology
• Retrospective Studies

• No.20194Y0473 Clinical Study of Shanghai Municipal Health Commission

• Combined hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma
• Prognosis
• Prognostic factors
• Surgery

• Humans
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/pathology
• Disease-Free Survival
• Liver Neoplasms/pathology
• Prognosis
• Bile Duct Neoplasms/pathology
• Cholangiocarcinoma/pathology
• Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic/pathology
• Retrospective Studies

• Cancer-specific survival
• Combined hepatocellular cholangiocarcinoma
• Hepatectomy
• Liver transplantation
• Overall survival

• combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CC)
• liver
• surgical

Cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is a rare tumor that arises from the epithelium of the bile ducts. It is classified according to anatomic location as intrahepatic, perihilar, and distal. Intrahepatic CC (ICC) is rare in patients with cirrhosis due to causes other than primary sclerosing cholangitis. Mixed hepatocellular carcinoma-CC (HCC-CC) is a rare neoplasm that shows histologic findings of both HCC and ICC within the same tumor mass. Due to the difficulties in arriving at the correct diagnosis, patients eventually undergo liver transplantation (LT) with a presumptive diagnosis of HCC on imaging when, in fact, they have ICC or HCC-CC.

To evaluate the outcomes of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma or mixed hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma on pathological examination after liver transplant.

Propensity score matching was used to analyze tumor recurrence (TR), overall mortality (OM), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in LT recipients with pathologically confirmed ICC or HCC-CC matched 1:8 to those with HCC. Progression-free survival and overall mortality rates were computed with the Kaplan-Meier method using Cox regression for comparison.

Of 475 HCC LT recipients, 1.7% had the diagnosis of ICC and 1.5% of HCC-CC on pathological examination of the explant. LT recipients with ICC had higher TR (46% vs 11%; P = 0.006), higher OM (63% vs 23%; P = 0.002), and lower RFS (38% vs 89%; P = 0.002) than those with HCC when matched for pretransplant tumor characteristics, as well as higher TR (46% vs 23%; P = 0.083), higher OM (63% vs 35%; P = 0.026), and lower RFS (38% vs 59%; P = 0.037) when matched for posttransplant tumor characteristics. Two pairings were performed to compare the outcomes of LT recipients with HCC-CC vs HCC. There was no significant difference between the outcomes in either pairing.

Patients with ICC had worse outcomes than patients undergoing LT for HCC. The outcomes of patients with HCC-CC did not differ significantly from those of patients with HCC.

• Cholangiocarcinoma
• Hepatocellular carcinoma
• Liver
• Prognosis
• Recurrence
• Survival analysis
• Transplantation

• Combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma
• Hepatocellular carcinoma
• Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
• Nomogram
• SEER

• Bile Duct Neoplasms/pathology
• Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic/pathology
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/pathology
• Cholangiocarcinoma/pathology
• Humans
• Liver Neoplasms/pathology
• Nomograms
• Prognosis
• Reproducibility of Results
• SEER Program

• Humans
• Kidney
• Kidney Transplantation
• Liver Transplantation
• Living Donors
• Tissue and Organ Procurement
• United States

• combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma
• contrast-enhanced ultrasound
• hepatocellular carcinoma
• intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
• nomogram

• National Natural Science Foundation of China-China Academy of General Technology Joint Fund for Basic Research

With the introduction of rituximab, ABO-incompatible (ABOi) living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been considered a feasible and safe procedure to overcome the shortage of organ donors. However, higher biliary complication rates remain an unresolved problem in the ABOi group. In our center, biliary anastomosis has been done with microscopic biliary reconstruction (MBR), which effectively reduced the biliary complication rate. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the microscopic approach reduced anastomotic biliary complications in ABOi LDLT.

From March 2006 to December 2018, 30 adult ABOi and 60 ABO-compatible (ABOc) LDLT patients were selected from over 1300 recipients through 1: 2 propensity score-matched cohorts. All patients received MBR during the transplantation. Biliary complications included bile leakage and biliary stricture. Patients with diffuse intrahepatic biliary stricture were excluded from analysis.

Patient characteristics were similar in the 2 groups. There was no in-hospital mortality in the ABOi LDLT. The long-term survival rates of the ABOi patients were comparable to those of the patients that underwent ABOc LDLT (87.1% vs 87.4%, P=0.964). Those in the ABOi group with anastomotic biliary complications were about 40%, which was higher than in the ABOc patients (40% vs 15%, P=0.01).

Microscopic biliary reconstruction does not help to reduce the high biliary complication rate in ABOi LDLT. Further investigation and identification regarding other risk factors and precautionary measures involving immunologic and adaptation mechanisms are needed.

• cholangiocarcinoma
• hepatocellular carcinoma
• liver transplantation

Combined hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CC) is an infrequent type of primary liver cancer that comprises hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CC). This study investigated the clinicopathological features and prognosis among cHCC-CC, HCC, and CC groups.

We prospectively collected the data of 608 patients who underwent surgical resection for liver cancer between 2011 and 2018 at E-Da Hospital, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Overall, 505 patients with cHCC-CC, HCC, and CC were included, and their clinicopathological features, overall survival (OS), and recurrence were recorded. OS and recurrence rates were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier analysis.

In the entire cohort, the median age was 61 years and 80% were men. Thirty-five (7.0%) had cHCC-CC, 419 (82.9%) had HCC, and 51 (10.1%) had CC. The clinicopathological features of the cHCC-CC group were more identical to those of the HCC group than the CC group. OS was significantly lower in the cHCC-CC group than in the HCC group but was not significantly higher in the cHCC-CC group than in the CC group. The median OS of cHCC-CC, HCC, and CC groups was 50.1 months [95% confidence interval (CI): 38.7–61.2], 62.3 months (CI: 42.1–72.9), and 36.2 months (CI: 15.4–56.5), respectively. Cumulative OS rates at 1, 3, and 5 years in cHCC-CC, HCC, and CC groups were 88.5%, 62.2%, and 44.0%; 91.2%, 76.1%, and 68.0%; and 72.0%, 48.1%, and 34.5%, respectively. After propensity score matching (PSM), OS in the cHCC-CC group was not significantly different from that in the HCC or CC group. However, OS was significantly higher in the HCC group than in the CC group before and after PSM. Furthermore, the disease-free survival was not significantly different among cHCC-CC, HCC, and CC groups before and after PSM.

The clinicopathological features of the cHCC-CC group were more identical to those of the HCC group than the CC group. The OS rate was significantly lower in the cHCC-CC group than the HCC group. However, after PSM, OS and disease-free survival in the cHCC-CC group were not significantly different from those in the HCC or CC group.

• Combined hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma
• Overall survival
• Prognosis
• Recurrence

• clinical features
• combined hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma
• long-term survival
• propensity score matching
• surgical resection

Although cholangiolocellular carcinoma is considered a combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma, we feel that this classification is not appropriate. Therefore, we compared the diagnostic imaging findings, surgical prognosis, and pathological features of cholangiolocellular carcinoma with those of other combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma subtypes, hepatocellular carcinoma, and cholangiocarcinoma.

The study patients included 7 with classical type combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma; 8 with stem cell feature, intermediate type combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma; 13 with cholangiolocellular carcinoma; 58 with cholangiocarcinoma; and 359 with hepatocellular carcinoma. All patients underwent hepatectomy or living-related donor liver transplantation from 2001 to 2014.

cholangiolocellular carcinoma could be distinguished from hepatocellular carcinom, other combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma subtypes, and cholangiocarcinoma by the presence of intratumoral Glisson’s pedicle, hepatic vein penetration, and tumor-staining pattern on angiography-assisted CT. Cholangiolocellular carcinoma was associated with a significantly lower SUV-max than that of cholangiocarcinoma on FDG-PET. Hepatocellular carcinoma, classical type, and cholangiolocellular carcinoma had significantly better prognoses than stem cell feature, intermediate type and cholangiocarcinoma. A cholangiocarcinoma component was detected in cholangiolocellular carcinoma that progressed to the hepatic hilum, and the cholangiocarcinoma component was found in perineural invasion and lymph node metastases.

From the viewpoint of surgeon, cholangiolocellular carcinoma should be classified as a good-prognosis subtype of biliary tract carcinoma because of its tendency to differentiate into cholangiocarcinoma during its progression, and its distinctive imaging and few recurrence rates different from other combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma subtypes.

• bile ductular carcinoma
• cholangiolocarcinoma
• cholangiolocellular carcinoma
• combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma

Preoperative identification of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), combined hepatocellular–cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-ICC), and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is essential for treatment decision making. We aimed to use ultrasound-based radiomics analysis to non-invasively distinguish histopathological subtypes of primary liver cancer (PLC) before surgery.

We retrospectively analyzed ultrasound images of 668 PLC patients, comprising 531 HCC patients, 48 cHCC-ICC patients, and 89 ICC patients. The boundary of a tumor was manually determined on the largest imaging slice of the ultrasound medicine image by ITK-SNAP software (version 3.8.0), and then, the high-throughput radiomics features were extracted from the obtained region of interest (ROI) of the tumor. The combination of different dimension-reduction technologies and machine learning approaches was used to identify important features and develop the moderate radiomics model. The comprehensive ability of the radiomics model can be evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

After digitally processing tumor ultrasound images, 5,234 high-throughput radiomics features were obtained. We used the Spearman + least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression method for feature selection and logistics regression for modeling to develop the HCC-vs-non-HCC radiomics model (composed of 16 features). The Spearman + statistical test + random forest methods were used for feature selection, and logistics regression was applied for modeling to develop the ICC-vs-cHCC-ICC radiomics model (composed of 19 features). The overall performance of the radiomics model in identifying different histopathological types of PLC was moderate, with AUC values of 0.854 (training cohort) and 0.775 (test cohort) in the HCC-vs-non-HCC radiomics model and 0.920 (training cohort) and 0.728 (test cohort) in the ICC-vs-cHCC-ICC radiomics model.

Ultrasound-based radiomics models can help distinguish histopathological subtypes of PLC and provide effective clinical decision making for the accurate diagnosis and treatment of PLC.

• histopathological subtype
• identification
• primary liver cancer
• radiomics
• ultrasound

•

Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CCA) is a rare primary liver carcinoma.

Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CCA) is a rare primary liver carcinoma whose components include both hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Indications for liver transplantation for cHCC-CCA remain controversial.

Four patients underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for cHCC-CCA. All patients had multiple tumor nodules preoperatively diagnosed as HCC. Postoperative pathological examinations revealed that one of the tumors was cHCC-CCA. Cases 1 and 2 underwent LDLT for cirrhosis with HCC tumors that met Milan criteria. Case 3 underwent LDLT for recurrent HCC tumors with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Although the preoperative examinations showed that the patient met the Kyoto, but not Milan criteria, postoperative pathological examinations revealed that the patient did meet Milan criteria. The three patients who met Milan criteria on postoperative pathological examination had no recurrences after LDLT. Case 4 had multiple tumors with alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Although the preoperative examinations showed that the patient did not meet Milan criteria—but did meet Kyoto criteria—, on postoperative pathological examinations, the patient met neither Millan nor Kyoto criteria. He died of tumor recurrence 15 months after LDLT.

Our experiences suggested that patients who meet Millan or Kyoto criteria experienced acceptable outcomes of LDLT for cHCC-CCA. By itself, cHCC-CCA is not contraindication for liver transplantation.

• Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma
• Hepatocellular carcinoma
• Liver transplantation

• Cholangiocarcinoma
• Liver transplant
• Survival

• Cholangiocarcinoma
• Hepatocellular carcinoma
• Hepatocholangiocarcinoma
• Liver neoplasms

• Liver metastases
• Liver transplantation
• Primary liver tumour

• Gadolinium ethoxybenzyl DTPA
• Liver neoplasms
• Magnetic resonance imaging

• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/diagnosis
• Contrast Media/pharmacology
• Diagnosis, Differential
• Female
• Gadolinium DTPA/pharmacology
• Humans
• Liver Neoplasms/diagnosis
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Prognosis